Maryland’s 63rd governor will make history before February arrives. Wes Moore is set to be sworn in today as Maryland’s first Black governor.
Moore intends to keep the historic context going during the inauguration. The Associated Press reports that before his speech, Moore will have a wreath-laying ceremony at the Annapolis City Dock, one of the region’s slave ports. The docks hold a memorial for Kunta Kinte, the slave who arrived in 1767 and was the subject of Alex Haley‘s classic book (and later miniseries) Roots.
Moore will take his oath on the Bible owned by another Maryland history-maker, Frederick Douglass. His speech will have him face the mall in front of the Capitol where a statue of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall is held. Read more
